Concrete towers, water gardens and elevated paths: the Barbican through David Altrath’s lens

18 hours ago7 min read1 comments

In the stark, monumental landscape of the Barbican Centre, photographer David Altrath finds his stage, his camera capturing not merely the static forms of brutalist architecture but the very breath of the place. His work transcends simple documentation, transforming into a cinematic study of how light, weather, and human movement conspire to animate this concrete leviathan.Where a casual observer might see only imposing grey towers and formidable geometric shapes, Altrath’s lens reveals a dynamic play of shadows and reflections, a theatre where the sun acts as the lead performer, its arc across the sky rewriting the visual script of the estate moment by moment. He composes frames where the hard, textured surfaces of the buildings are softened by the gentle ripple of water gardens, creating a dialogue between the man-made and the elemental that is as compelling as any narrative in film.This approach is reminiscent of a master cinematographer blocking a scene, where the architecture is the set, the residents and visitors are the supporting cast, and the ever-shifting English weather provides the mood lighting—one moment a stark, high-contrast drama under a clear sky, the next a soft-focus, melancholic piece under a blanket of cloud. The elevated walkways, those iconic ‘streets in the sky,’ become his tracking shots, guiding the viewer’s eye through a complex urban labyrinth that was conceived in the post-war vision of Chamberlin, Powell and Bon as a utopian solution for city living. Altrath’s photography does for the Barbican what a great film critic does for a classic movie: he doesn't just show you what’s there; he deconstructs its visual language, exposes its emotional core, and frames it within a broader cultural context, arguing for its enduring relevance not as a relic, but as a living, breathing entity whose story is still being written in concrete, water, and light.

#featured

#Barbican Centre

#Brutalist architecture

#photography

#David Altrath

#concrete

#water gardens

#designboom

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